Can Graphic Novels Teach Us Something?

A trip to any preschool will show you that pictures are an important teaching tool.  Beyond the picture books, images are used to communicate everything from the steps to follow when washing hands to where to put things at the end of the school day. The universality of images can even help us as adults.  One of the most popular uses of sequential images for adults can be found in instruction manuals.  One company in particular, IKEA, uses images alone to communicate how to put together its furniture. 

However, the question is whether graphic novels can be used as teaching devices beyond instruction manuals and early childhood.

I found three books that do just that:

The first is Making Comics by Scott McCloud, published by Harper. What better way to teach about how make comics than with a comic? Actually, this book, along with Scott McCloud’s previous books Understanding Comics and Reinventing Comics, really helped demystify comics for me. Although I grew up surrounded by comics I never really read them. Not until my own children showed interest in books such as Bone, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Captain Underpants did I open my mind to comics and become interested in trying to understand what the attraction was. This book answered a lot of my questions and gave me a whole new respect for those who create comic books.

The second book is What is? by Lynda Barry, published by Draw and Quarterly. In a semi-autobiographical way, Lynda Barry uses doodles and other images to explain how to re-gain the ability to imagine the way we once did as children. The book includes exercises that help us unlock the doors to creativity and avoid the perils of writers block. It serves as an inspiration to writers and artists everywhere.

Finally, the third book I looked at was by Daniel H. Pink who is best known for his bestselling books on the modern day workplace: A Whole New Mind, and Drive. In Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need, Pink uses a manga format to explain the “most important lessons of a satisfying, successful career.” The story uses fictional characters, complete with a chopstick genie, to highlight the serious subject of choosing the right career path that will hopefully lead to long term happiness. This book is a quick read with an interesting message. It makes a great gift for students leaving high school, college or university and entering the workforce for the first time. Johnny Bunko is book is published by Penguin, artwork by Ten Pas.   

Two Graphic Novels for Teens:

I spend most of my time reading Japanese manga, which I really love, but this time I checked out a couple of American graphic novels that I stumbled across. Both are geared towards teenage girls and are stand-alone stories that are worth reading. 

The first one I looked at is Burnout by Rebecca Donner, Illustrated by Inaki Miranda, Published by Minx (the short-lived division of DC Comics focused on publishing graphic novels for teen girls).


This is a story about a teen, Danni, who is trying to cope with her father’s abandonment, her mother’s alcoholic fiancé and the crush she has for her soon-to be brother-in-law. She must decide how far she is willing to go for the one she loves. The story takes place in Pacific North-West and is set against the background of echo-terrorism. This story has some interesting plot twists and good graphics although it is a little light on character development.    

Although the story stands alone, Black is for Beginnings is book five of the Blue is for Nightmares series by Faria Stolarz and is only one done in a graphic novel format. I have not read the other books in this series.

The story is about a student, Stacey, who has nightmares; the trouble is that when she has nightmares they tend to come true.Stacey has to learn how to cope with a pair of tragedies in her past in order to allow her to move forward with her relationship.The book has a serious and supernatural plot, however it is splattered with humour making it a fun read.

Black is for Beginnings is by Laurie Faria Stolarz, adaptation by Barbara Randall Kesel and Artwork by Janina Gorrissen, published by Flux.